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I Bought Another Boat

I bought another new to me boat, 2003 Seaswirl Striper, 22 foot. I plan to do a lot more Bay fishing and getting back into salt fishing ( I did a lot of it 20 years ago before kids.). I'm still keeping my 17 foot Alumaweld for lake fishing and some river fishing as well.

Saturday I took the Striper out on the San Joaquin to test it about 10:45 a.m. It started out slow on the San Andreas Shoals for one 16 imch striper drifting live minnows.

I had a little mishap on the way down under the highway 12 Bridge on the Mokelumne, my poles were sticking up on the top of my hard hardtop, and 2 of the tips broke off of my rods. Got to say I was pretty bummed. So one of the remaining rods I was fishing with a $20 Walmart rod that was spooled with 20 lb braid with an 8-pound backer. The rod itself was a decent Ugly Stik for the price, but the reel was a piece of junk.

Moved down by Eddo's Resort about 12:30 p.m. and it really took off. I caught 4 stripers cookie cutter 20inchers, and 4 undersized in about 30 minutes.

I didn't plan on staying a long time so I decided to doing one more pass at 1:15.
5 minutes in I hooked up into something really big on the $20 Walmart Ugly Stik. I was fishing solo, so after 45 minutes and chasing it down stream about a mile or two to the Antioch bridge, I got to look at it. It was about an 8-foot sturgeon. I wasn't able to get a picture of it since I was just crazy busy trying to manage the boat and the line, but I saw right next to the boat. The fish almost spooled me at least 10 times. I kept putting the boat in gear and chasing it down river. I had a boat shadowing me the whole time and offering to help and cheering me on. But I was too stubborn and wanted to land it by myself. After bouncing back between the boat controls and the rod several times, the fish shot under the boat once again and I was not able to get back to the controls. The eight pound test line chafed against the hull and the fish finally broke off.

Well to be honest I didn't really expect to land it anyway. But I wanted bragging rights. I still get to say it was a great battle and a great first fishing trip out in the new boat.